Involve more nurses and nurse practitioners in pandemic response planning - Rutland Herald
Posted over 5 years ago by Meredith Roberts
Wednesday, a joint statement directed at Vermont’s state and congressional leaders was released by the American Nurses Association Vermont Branch, Vermont State School Nurses Association, Vermont Nurse Practitioners Association, Northeast Multistate Division, and the Organization of Nurse Leaders of Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Vermont, calling for more nurses to be involved in planning the pandemic response strategy.
“We tried to reach out early,” said Meredith Roberts, executive director of the American Nurses Association’s Vermont branch. “I know that both myself and president-elect Carol Conroy, from ONL, both of us reached out and offered to be on the committee, but it seems like it was already formed by that point, but we were very willing.”
The groups argue that since nurses are on the front lines of the pandemic, they have a deep understanding of how things are playing out and where the situation is headed — a perspective that not all within the planning level may possess.
“Our nursing knowledge, skill and experience in service planning and delivery should be considered thoughtfully and utilized, at all levels of the pandemic response efforts,” said Eileen Girling, president of the American Nursing Association Vermont branch...Read more